[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the message podcast of High Ridge Church Longview, where our vision is to help you know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and ultimately make a difference. We are so glad that you're here and we pray that this message impacts your life as you apply the spiritual truths from God's word in practical ways.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Let's listen in.
I've been preaching for quite a while now, so I get a chance to take a break today. We've had elders meetings all week long. It's been a long but a fantastic week. And so I decided to drop back and punt and give the ball today to an incredible man of God. So all the way in from Rockland, California, from High Ridge Church in Rockland, would you please help welcome Pastor Levi Gafford from High Ridge, Rockland, an amazing church planner and a good friend of mine.
You guys stretch out your hands towards him. Let's pray for him today. Father, I thank you for an amazing church planner and a good friend. I pray that you would bless him, Lord, as he brings the word to us here at High Ridge Longview today in Jesus name. And all of us said together, Amen. Enjoy.
[00:00:56] Speaker C: Amen. Well, thank you, Pastor Tim. Well, hello, High Ridge Longview, second service. Come on, y'.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: All.
[00:01:01] Speaker C: Excited to be in the house today.
All right. We're so glad to be here. And I first want to say, you know, thank you to Pastor Tim and Tina and just the amazing staff.
Many of you guys may not know, but we launched the church January 30th of 2022 and the Lord spoke to us during the pandemic in 2020, in June of 2020 through Start A church in California. And that has to be the Lord. Amen. Somebody out there. And so he prayed with us and you know, Pastor Tim and Tina and Pastor Jeff and a lot of our, the pastors and leaders. And then we, in 2020, December 2020, we actually went out and started living there. Launched a life giving church there in Rockland, California. And I wanted to say and brag on you guys and your generosity. We needed a trailer with filled with stuff to start the church. And it was an amazing trailer that had the cases with rolling cases. We found it in Florida. I talked to Pastor Tim, I said, man, we need this trailer to get this church started. And was not even thinking about him giving anything to us or you guys. And then all of a sudden he calls me the next day and say, man, our family wants to bless you guys with this amazing trailer. So come on, let's give it up for Yourselves today for your generosity and giving. Your generosity will always go further than you can physically. So I want you to know that. And it was amazing. Just a look on our team's face to say, wow, we can finally start this church. Well, it didn't stop there. So then Pastor Tim says, man, we have a heart for you. And so he started coming down with a lot of your staff, helping to train our worship team members, all of our dream team, our leadership corps that we had. You got to remember, you started church from ground up. You get what you get. So you got one arm, one leg. Come on, somebody. You are welcome in. We need you. Let's go. Whatever gifts you have, whatever talents, it don't matter. We want to get it going. And you know what? God showed up. We have an amazing group of people that came in, and just throughout this last almost four years now since the church has been planted, you guys can take part of every salvation, every life change because of your generosity. Come on. Isn't God good?
And so I want to just thank you personally for doing that. And Pastor Tim means a lot to me. I mean, he's a brother, he's a friend, but he's also a mentor to me. I mean, there are some things that I've had to come up against out there, and I just needed some help. And I know that if I call Pastor Tim, he's gonna answer. Can somebody say amen for that? Right. He will answer the phone and give me some really godly sound advice. So if you're new here, you got an amazing pastor that thinks more than just here, but also in California and all over the world. So amazing to be in such a healthy, healthy church. And so thank you, Pastor Tim and Tina. All right, well, I'm ready to get going in God's word, so let's go ahead and pray as we start today. Father, we thank you for today. We thank you, God, for another opportunity just to be able to be with you and be able to learn and grow. I pray God today that you open up our hearts to receive your word today. For we know that there is a word that you have for us.
Thank you, Lord, for doing your mighty work. In our hearts. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
All right, so we're going to be In Colossians chapter one, starting with verse 15 today, little background on the book of Colossians. This is Paul writing from a Roman prison. He's been there about two years, and he writes this letter to this church there in Colossae. Now, you must understand this wasn't a church that he planted. While there were several New Testament books that we've learned, like Philippi, Ephesus, and on and on, where Paul planted some churches. And he wrote some letters to these churches.
Now, he always had a letter to encourage them, to challenge them. But this church, he did not even know them. He had not met them yet.
The pastor there was named Epaphras, and he went to Paul while he was in prison and said, man, there's some things going on in my church, and I need you to help us and encourage us. And so he writes this letter to them. Now, I want you to first understand is that Paul has a kingdom mindset. He didn't just preach or write letters to churches that he planted, but he also went out to those that just needed the gospel in Jesus. And so he had a kingdom mindset. He wasn't trying to build a brand. He was building Jesus Christ. Amen. He was building the kingdom of Jesus. And so I want us to understand that today, because sometimes we can get so caught up in what we're doing here, but it's really about the kingdom that Jesus is building. It's about being part of something bigger than yourself. And that's what Paul was doing. And he writes this letter because they had what they call heresy. And that means that something that's being preached that was not true and what they were learning is that all about legalism. So legalism was something they dealt with. And legalism is what you do.
So if you do the right things, if you keep working hard, then you're going to earn your salvation, is what they would teach there. And the whole book of Colossians is all about Jesus, is supreme above all else. It's all about Jesus. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, it's all about Jesus. So it's not about what you do. You already saved. Why are you trying to work hard? Salvation is a free gift that we can receive, and now we have a relationship. They were also dealing with mysticism, and that's what you feel. And they were saying, well, if we can drum up these ideas and if we can get some goosebumps in a service. And then now all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit is here. But how many of us know that the Holy Spirit was with us today when we drove to church this morning, and he's with us when we go home, because when you give your life to Jesus, the Holy Spirit is now inside of you.
And they were dealing with mysticism, how we feel. And another thing, they were dealing with was asceticism. And that's things you don't do, things that you should stop doing. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't do this, I don't that. And you get so caught up in living your life, trying not to do some things instead of focusing on Jesus. So he writes this letter to them and says, listen, church, it's not about what you do, how you feel, what you don't do. It's all about a true relationship with Jesus Christ.
And I believe that the Lord is talking to us today about that as well. So maybe you're here. Maybe you're here watching online as well, and you believe in Jesus and you say you're a Christian, but do you actually live for Him?
Are you a fan or a follower?
And he wants us to be followers, not just fans.
See, followers have a true relationship with him. So we starts off Colossians, chapter 1, verse 15. That's what he says. The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, which tells us that Jesus is supreme over all creation, by the way, and he is the revealer of the Father. That word invisible, it means. It's the word icon, which means he's a copy. So he's not just someone that's similar to God. He is God.
That's how important Jesus is. Verse 16. For in him all things were created. Things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through Him. And for him, see, he is the Creator.
Verse 17. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
So if he is before all things, which means that we put him first in our life because he is supreme. He's the one who holds your marriage together, your relationships together, this city together, this world together. He holds everything together, not just our plans or our ideologies.
But he says, if you have Jesus in your life, he will hold it together, but we must stay close to Him. See, it tells me that Jesus is eternal.
Jesus is the only person who ever lived before he was born. That's why we learn in John 8:58, says, Very truly, I tell you, Jesus answered before Abraham was born. I am, he is. He's always been here. Verse 18. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead.
So that in everything, he might have. Here's the Word, the supremacy.
Supremacy. Is he supreme in your life?
Do you put him before everyone and anything else.
And he's. I like how he says he's the head of the body of the church, which means that Jesus is supreme over the church. He's the head of the church. Listen, your pastor is not the head of the church.
How you know you have a great pastor is that he seeks the Lord and the Lord speaks to him and the elders here and brings that vision and mission down to you guys. And you're part of an amazing, healthy, life giving church. He says, I'm the head of the church. When we put people ahead of God when it comes to our church, then you're gonna find issues, you're gonna find flaws. And some of you may say, well, you know, I'm looking for this perfect church just for me. Well, if you go somewhere else and you want a perfect church, it will no longer be perfect because you showed up. And because you showed up, it's no longer perfect.
And this is why we don't put people or pastors on a pedestal. Let me tell you why. It's because we need to commune with God every day, not just on Sunday.
So we can go Monday through Saturday not read our Bible, not worship and pray. And on Sunday, you put the pressure on us to bring you back to life. It's like you come in here on a stretcher, malnourished, broke down tubes everywhere and broke down from this world in sin and you want us in a 30 minute message, we poof, bring you back to life.
It is not going to happen.
You got to start eating and feeding and praying and believing and worshiping God every single day of your life.
It's an ongoing relationship with him. So don't put that pressure on us. I'm going to find the pastor who gives me everything now. Pastor. Pastor Tim's pretty close. All right, he's good. But I'm telling you, I mean, I watch him also. He also feeds me. Come on, somebody, right?
[00:11:13] Speaker B: Pastor.
[00:11:13] Speaker C: But here's the reality.
God wants you and you alone. He wants to be supreme in your life.
So Jesus is not just another God. He is the only God. He is supreme.
So we must understand that Jesus is supreme over anything and everything in our lives.
See, I don't know about you, but I've dealt with different things in my life when it comes to this. And one of them things is that I was supreme over my own life.
Anybody ever dealt with pride besides me? Anybody else? Okay. Yeah. So I just thought I was the man. And it all started for me when I was in high school, ninth grade. I'M on the football team, man. Can nobody tell me anything like, I'm telling you, you throw the ball, I'm gonna catch it. All right? Anybody like that today? Where you say, man, I'm that person. All right, if you raise your hand, you might have some pride. Come on, somebody, we're gonna pray that off of your life. But I'm telling you, man, throw the ball. I would catch it, man. I love football.
I tell the, the quarterback, hey, man, listen, if I'm out there, just throw it. You're double covered, don't matter, just throw it. I'm going to catch it. And man, I would go out there, the ball comes, boom, I'd run in, touchdown, spin the ball, do whatever I wanted to do. And just feeding my pride because I was supreme over my life until one day when it was a awesome day, I thought, you know, today we're going to win the game. And my mom was a nurse then, and so she would actually come and watch the games after she'd get off work. And I remember she was in the stands, and I love seeing my mom out there. Oh, mom, thank you for coming.
I made her so proud all the time. And then, man, the quarterback throws the ball. I'm running back, I'm going in the end zone. I knew it. I catch the ball, I spin around, I'm going to the end zone. This big dude got in my way and he hit me and I flipped and I fell on my finger and I broke my finger. Ninth grade, I'm laying down, the wind's knocked out of me. I'm on my back. I'm just trying not to cry. And I'm laying there and all of a sud from the stands, I hear my mom. My baby, my baby. Oh, my baby. Oh, my baby. My baby. That's how she looked, by the way. My baby, my baby. Right? I was trying to give you a great example of how she looks.
My baby. All right, that's too much. Too much. Sorry. Too much. And so she. I mean, she comes down to the stands, gets on the field.
Security's trying to tell her, ma', am, stop, stop. She comes over, she comes to me, I'm laying down, I close my eyes like, lord, I know you wouldn't do this to me.
And listen, I wasn't even saved yet. And I was like, lord, I know wouldn't do this. And she comes up to me, she goes, he's not breathing. And I look up and she's about to give me mouth to mouth resuscitation.
My mom in high school. So I said, mom, what are you doing? Stop. I'm good. And my mom walked me off the field that day. Very embarrassing.
So that was the end of my high school P.E. career.
[00:14:03] Speaker B: Come on.
[00:14:04] Speaker C: Yeah, it wasn't the helmets and the shoulder pads. It was just PE period. Number three. All right, so anyways, I didn't get that far.
Here's the reality. Jesus, he wasn't supreme of my life. I wasn't even saved yet. I wonder how many lost people are like that. But maybe you are saved. And you would even say, man, when it comes to life, I master my own life. God doesn't master my life. I master my own life. And I feel like the Lord is saying today that he wants you to understand that he must be supreme in your life if you want your life to go well at all.
Remember, you're gonna have trials and sorrows. The Bible promises that we know it's gonna happen. But here's the reality. When you have Jesus in your life and you put him first, oh, he's gonna be with you every second of your life.
So I'm gonna share with you today three ways to make Jesus supreme in your life. Three ways. Write this down, very simple message today, but I want you to open up your hearts to it. And number one is to give your life to Jesus.
I mean, truly give your life to him, not just receive him, not just raise your hand and pray the salvation prayer, but truly give your life to him completely.
Have you given everything to Him? Have you submitted your plans? Have you submitted your agenda? Have you given everything to Him? And maybe you're sitting here today and you don't have a relationship with him, where you're going to have an opportunity at the end of this message.
But you say, well, what does that mean to give your life to Him? It means that you don't live your life your way any longer.
You, in your heart, you know that you have that God is going to be the Lord of your life and that you want him to forgive you of your sins. And when you begin to do that, something changes. This is why it says in Luke, chapter 9, verse 23. Then he said to them, all, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. There's a following that comes when you give your life to Him. And I think a lot of people have forgotten the follow part.
We're really good at raising our hands because we feel bad about our sin and we feel bad about what we've done yesterday. But he Says, I want more than that. I want you to follow me. And following is not always a bad or hard thing.
What he means is he wants a relationship with you today, a true relationship. I'll say it this way. He wants you to go all in.
And you may say, well, how do I start with that? I mean, I raised my hand. What's next for me? I'm going to give you four steps. The first one is the crowd step, I would call it. And that is come and see.
And many of you have taken this step. Where have you given your life to Jesus? And now you're saved. And you're just kind of sitting here checking out the church. I don't know about this church. I'm still trying to figure out things. And you're trying to figure out God. And you're here. And I'm so thankful that you're here. You are in a safe place. You are in a very healthy church. I'm telling you, because if it wasn't, I wouldn't be here either, right? But you can trust this place.
Lots of people have been healed in this place.
A lot of people have been church hurt. They've had church hurt in their life, and they've come in this place.
Why? Because they point you to Jesus, not to themselves.
Again, that's why he is supreme. So this crowd stage, the. The next. The next step is the congregation, and that is to come and join us. Come and join us. Come and be part of what God's doing. Don't. Don't just show up and raise your hand and be a consumer. It's time to be a contributor Time. Time to get. Get in the game, get out the stands and get on the field. And we call that Growth track.
Sign up for Growth Track, where you're going to learn about the church that you're going to be part of. And you're going to learn your spiritual gifts and how God designed you to be part of what God's doing. The next stage is the committed stage, and that's come and grow.
So now you're saying, man, I want to grow. I want to learn. I want to be a disciple. I want to know about the Bible and who wrote the Bible and the different authors and how men penned the Bible. But God is the author of the Bible and why are they in different sections? And how does that all work?
Well, you should have a hunger for his word.
And if you're here just looking at me like this is a checklist, then you're in the wrong place.
Because in this place, we want you to grow, we want you to grow with God.
So you come and grow. And we say, get in a group. Get in a small group. If you're not in a small group, I'm telling you, there's so many things that God could have for you. There are some relationships that are waiting on you.
There are some people that need a friend and need someone to connect with. And you're gonna find that in a group. So get in a group. Here's the last one. And it's not very encouraging, but it's commissioned to come and die.
Come and die. What does that mean? That now you're gonna be part of what God's doing and you're gonna die of yourself, die of your agendas, die of your wants and what you want. But you say, God, I want all that you want for me and I want to be part of something bigger than myself, bigger than my problems. I'm going to quit praying about the rent because there's something bigger to pray about than just the rent.
Come on, somebody. Amen.
And there's something bigger that God wants you to be part of. So you're going to get on the dream team and you're going to start serving and using your gifts for Jesus and make a difference in this community.
Those are the ways you say, well, what do I do? Well, just get in a game. John, chapter 15, verse 8 said, this is to my Father's glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. So he says, now follow me and be a disciple. Now he says, I want you to show to people that you are a disciple. How were you going to bear much fruit? Now this can get confusing sometimes because we think that when we read the scripture that it means that we are going to produce fruit.
We can't produce fruit.
We can't produce it.
The word bear there means to carry.
Jesus produces the fruit in our life and then we carry that fruit to our neighbors and our co workers and those that are at our school and our families. And we carry the fruit that's on our lives so people can see and taste that the Lord is good.
Oh, isn't that some good revelation?
So we gotta get out of this.
Just like those in Colossae the church was dealing with. Well, I need to produce fruit. I need to be caught up in legalism. I need to show myself that I'm worthy. No, we just have a relationship with him and he'll produce fruit. And then when you go around, people will say, that person has been with the Lord, that person's life has been changed. And when they see your life changed because of the fruit on your life, they're going to ask you, how did your life change? And you're going to say, it's all because of Jesus and because he is supreme in my life.
Jesus is supreme.
That's the first one. Number two, the second way to make Jesus supreme is to number two, surrender your life to Jesus.
Now you're gonna give it to him.
Some of us say, well, I'm give him my life and I'm gonna receive him. But surrendering is different.
I'll say it this way. You must choose surrender over control.
Because I don't know about you, but a lot of people, including me, at many times, I like to have control over things.
And so what happens is that you say you're a Christian and you're a believer, but you're still holding onto your life.
But God says, let go of your plan. Let go of your agenda. I was in college. I was gonna be an attorney. My whole life, I wanted to be an attorney. Why? Because my dad said I can talk a lot. So he says, you're gonna be an attorney. And I went to a mission trip, Mexico, and preached for the first time. And I was just a drummer. And at that moment, the Lord says, you are called into the ministry.
Well, I was upset because I knew that ministry people are broke.
I'm like, I'm gonna live how to survive. And I realized, obviously, that's not how it goes. Right. Because you're a generous church. Amen. You are a generous church, and God's people are generous so that you can have staff that are not eating beans and rice. Amen.
So what I mean by that is that's what I was holding on to, that.
And the Lord says, let it go. You need to surrender your life. And when I did, he put me into a place where I was at High Ridge Church in Fort Worth, and I met my pastor, Pastor Jeff, who was very healthy. I had a lot of things in my life that needed to be healed and cleaned up. And I was in a healthy culture. And I met Pastor Tim, and he walked me along on what it means to be a disciple and a true minister. What does that look like? And God set me in a place and. But I had to first let go of my agenda in my life for that to happen.
So what is one of the things that I feel that could stop us from truly letting go?
And I believe it's fear.
Would you agree?
Fear has permeated the culture. If the enemy can get you to be fearful, he'll stop you from doing what God has called you to do.
So we get caught up in this fear game of what if this doesn't happen? And what if they don't do it better than me and God? Are you sure? What if I'm not going to make it? If you want me to be in ministry, but. But attorney's a lot better. Cause it pays more and you get caught up in these things and God has spoken to you. And I wanna stop for a moment. And the Lord has been giving you dreams and prophetic words that he shared with you to do something. And we have not because we are fearful. See, I understand what fear is like. Cause when I was a little kid, I was always afraid of Chucky. Come on, y' all remember Chucky? The little two foot doll Chucky that would show up in random corners of the house and just stick you when you walk by to stab you. I was scared to death of Chucky. I don't know why. My dad showed me that movie when I was a little kid. It just really destroyed my life.
Here's the one that got me the most is ET Y' all remember ET I mean, ET Terrifying. Look at that thing.
He's throwing up gang signs. Look at him. He was scaring me.
I mean, this was E.T.
and here's the route. This thing is running through the cornfield, right? Throwing up gang signs. His fingers lit up. Some of y' all don't eat corn because of that movie. Let's be honest, right?
But it was fear. What about Jaws?
Jaws are scared of the little. That's why I don't just float around in unknown waters, let my feet dangle everywhere and something bite me. I don't like doing that stuff. And there's always that one guy at the beach on a surfboard who's out there by himself and I'm looking like, bro, you about to get eaten up. You are bait. You are a steak. You are a big old chicken leg. And this thing is about to tear you up. And then he got his leg dangling off the surfboard. See, you're not gonna see my leg dangling off the surfboard, looking like a brown Tootsie Roll.
So the shark can come bite my leg off? I don't think so. I'm just saying you can do that. But that's not what I'm going to do.
All right?
Fear has permeated the culture.
And let me share a few things about fear. See, a lot of us will have a fear of not having enough.
Matthew, chapter 6, verses 25 through 26 says this. Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. I want to stop there for a moment. Those are some powerful words.
I wonder how many of us are derailed because of this one verse.
Think about this.
Because of what we eat or drink or our body or what we wear, man. But thank God it's a verse that he says, don't worry about those things.
Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes?
Look at the birds of the air. I love how he uses birds as an illustration. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not much more valuable than they?
He's talking to you guys.
Can any of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your life?
So he's saying, we're worrying about things.
Instead of surrendering our life, we're worrying. Listen, I've never seen a bird on a tree branch having a nervous breakdown, have you?
There's always a taki, a dorito laying around somewhere on the trail for this bird to eat. And here we are, worried. Oh, I don't know if I'm gonna make it tomorrow.
I lost my job. I get it. It's hard. But if he takes care of the birds, he will take care of you. So be encouraged in that today. I'm fired up. Hold on, y'.
[00:26:42] Speaker B: All.
[00:26:42] Speaker C: Be encouraged in that today. Come on. Let the Lord. I'm a preacher myself. Go on, Pastor. Preach it.
That's what I'm talking about. You got to raise that right leg up, and that's how you know they real serious.
All right?
Don't worry. God has your back.
Amen. He has your back.
Surrender your life. Here's another one. A fear of relationship.
A fear of relationship.
Some of you have been hurt by someone.
You've been hurt in a relationship. Maybe you've gone through a divorce.
Maybe you were dating someone and they turned their back on you. They cheated on you. And I want you to know this.
If someone can walk out of your life, let them walk.
Because your destiny is not tied to the one who left.
It's tied to Jesus. And when he is supreme, you can have a relationship again.
You're not in a small group. Maybe today because you're worried about being hurt, maybe you're here and you're checking this church out, and you're thinking, man, are those leaders Are those people gonna hurt me again?
Listen, they are not supreme in your life. Jesus is supreme. If he gives you the words to start coming here, you step in and you go all in. And I'm telling you, it's good for you. Pastor Tim's words, it's good for you.
All right, number three. We must live your life with Jesus. Live your life with Jesus.
Not just four. Four is what you do, but live your life with Jesus. I want to share with you what it looks like when you live your life with Jesus. And we're going to read In Psalm chapter 73, the Psalmist, he's having an issue with, with why are the wicked prospering and the righteous or not? And he's battling some issues in his mind and his heart with God. And look what happens when he says, I'm going to walk Alongside God.
Verse 16 says, so I tried to understand why the wicked prosper, but what a difficult task it is.
Then I went into your sanctuary, oh, God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked. So he says, I was battling some issues and some thought patterns, but man, when I got into your sanctuary, when I got into the presence of God, I finally understood. Now, the sanctuary of God was the Tabernacle of David on Mount Zion. And right there was the Ark of the Covenant. And worship leaders were praying and rotating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, praying and worshiping. And he says, when I got into the presence of God, I gained a new perspective.
This is why it's important to come on Sundays. This is why it's important to worship at home and to pray so that you are in the presence of God. Verse 21. Then I realized that my heart was bitter.
So now the Holy Spirit is speaking to him, and I was all torn up inside. I was so foolish and ignorant. I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you. And by the way, he didn't just stop there. Because then if you stop there, you will feel condemned.
And we don't have a God who condemns.
Now he begins to convict your heart. When you are in the presence of God, you see how this happens. It's okay to struggle with issues in your mind and bring it to God, but it doesn't stop there. Verse 23. Yet I still belong to you.
Look how his heart changed. You hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.
Man, that is so powerful. Verse 25. Whom have I in heaven but you?
I love this one liner right here. I desire you more than Anything on earth.
Oh, my goodness. The psalmist started off with some challenges in his mind towards God and God, and he got in the presence, and all of a sudden he feels this conviction from the Holy Spirit. I want you to hear this for a moment. When you get in God's present, the Holy Spirit speaks to you, and then your perspective changes, and you start to understand who God is and how mighty he is. And then at the end of it, when you remember when you are walking with him, then you desire him more. If you walk with the wrong people in the wrong crowd, you're going to desire more of that. But when you desire. When you get around Jesus, you begin to desire more of him. And I want you to understand it's something about being in the presence of God.
It's powerful. I'm gonna end with this story today.
So I understood this with my dad, man, it was hard.
My dad was the best man at my wedding. Love my dad, man. I mean, we got. We connected on so many levels. And 2018, he called and said, hey, man, I have stomach cancer. And I said, okay, dad. Well, that's all right. God is good. He's a big God. We can get that out there, right? Just go to the doctor. And I said, I've already been there. Went to specialist. We're gonna do surgery.
And I just remember thinking to myself, well, God's gonna come through.
So then he goes to surgery, they get all the cancer out. He calls me a few hours later, levi, man, God is good, man.
All the cancer's out. We're good to go. And I said, all right, dad. Praise God. And I'm telling everyone on our staff and calling people, God is good. Whoo. He showed up.
Well, six hours later, my older sister gives me a call and says, hey, dad is not doing well. You need to get down here. So I drive from Fort Worth to San Antonio, and I go into this hospital room, and my dad's there, hooked up with tubes all in his mouth.
He can't breathe on his own. He's 100% oxygen. And I'm looking at him like, dad, you're the strong one.
Remember? What are you doing? What's going on? And then I went to God, what's going on?
I was just talking to him, and now he's in this state, and he had a pulmonary embolism. It went to his lung.
So I'm sitting there, I'm trying to process this thing. The doctor walks in. Remember what your dad said? That if he can't be in a good State, then it's better that he go ahead and be with the Lord. And I'm like, well, that's what he said, but that's no faith. Okay, so I'm going to pray. And then I pray. And I remember I was at a hotel right next to the hospital.
I was in there by myself. And, man, I was. I'm gonna be vulnerable and honest with you guys. I was upset. I was kicking walls. I was mad.
I had my worship music on. I had my Bible out. I was trying to do what I teach every all. You know I'm a pastor, right? So I teach y' all to do those type of things, but now I had to do them.
And I sat there and I weep before the Lord. And I got upset. I closed my Bible, turned off the worship music. I'm just pacing back and forth. All of a sudden, my phone goes off.
I mean, I got text after text. And you know who it was?
All the men in my small group.
And they began to text me, hey, Pastor, you're good. Don't worry. God's gonna work it out. Hey, don't worry. No matter what happens, God loves you. We got your back, Pastor. You want us to drive down here? We love you, Pastor. We love. And I remember seeing them and like the psalmist where my mind was, I was struggling trying to figure out what I'm gonna do and why was this happening.
And I. And then I felt like I was in the presence of God. I turned on my worship music, and I began to read the Bible again. And then the Lord just. I'm telling you, I was filled with the Spirit. I was so excited. I was fired up. And I remember the Lord just telling me, you can't do this by yourself.
And the Lord showed me that day that he is supreme.
Even if he's not healed here on earth, he will be healed there.
And I go the next day, my dad is still in the same condition. My siblings are there. We hold hands. They take the tubes out of his mouth. He breathes his last breath.
And at that moment, joy and peace has filled my heart that I know that he wasn't here. But because he was supreme in my life and supreme in this situation, my perspective began to change. And you know what happened? God began to tell me, son, this is what it looks like when I'm supreme.
I'm not telling you it's not going to be hard. It's still going to be hard.
But you know what? I will be with you, and I will give you a peace and a Joy that no man, no person can ever give you. So this is why he is supreme in your life.
And I want to pray for you. Every head bowed, every eye closed. I want to pray for you today.
Maybe you're here today and you say, you know what?
That's where I'm at.
I'm at a.
A pretty hard place in my life. And maybe you've shifted some things where you're putting people or things over God. And you know what? That's okay. This is what this time is for. This is not condemnation. This is a time for us to be in his presence.
And just like the psalmist, if you're feeling that way today, don't feel condemned, feel empowered today, because he loves you and cares for you. And I'm going to pray for you. Father, we thank you for this time together.
I thank you, Lord, for those who are here and those that are watching online.
Father, we are in a place where we need you more than ever.
And I pray, Lord, that you help us change our perspective. Allow us to put you before people or things.
And right now, Lord, fill us with your spirit.
Help us grow strong with you and never go weary, because you are our God and you are. Are supreme. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
[00:36:03] Speaker B: Amen. Would you give Pastor Levi an incredible East Texas warm round of applause? Thank you for that wonderful word. Good job.
Good job, Pastor Levi. In case you're curious, he is the pastor of High Ridge Church in Rockland, California. Serving God and doing the things that is necessary to serve the Lord in a place where it's not easy to serve the Lord. But you have family in Rockland, California. You have an incredible family there. If you ever get a chance to be in the Northern California area, you're going to want to drop by, come to one of their services. It's a powerful thing. So I love hanging out there. I love being with his people. And you have family there. I tell them, you guys have East Texas family. We not wear the same clothes that you wear. We have a lot more boots. We eat a lot of different things. We have stuff that's deep fried and covered in gravy. You guys like avocado. But we're still family. Come on.
We're still family. So it's always great to have you with us. I'm so glad you could be here. And so his wife and daughter are coming to the 12 o' clock service, as some of you should probably, at some point, at some point in time, just consider coming to the 12 o' clock service. And then as we finish up today, I want to give you a chance to maybe respond to what the Lord might be doing in your heart, whether you're here in person or watching online. Perhaps you came here today and you're saying, pastor, I've never really had a relationship with Jesus. I'm not really sure that Jesus is supreme in my life.
Today is going to be your day, and I'm not here to embarrass you. I'm not going to single you out in any way. I would never do that. But you don't need to leave this place without making a decision to make Jesus supreme.
So would you bow your head all across this place? Would we just bow our heads, close our eyes?
And if you want a relationship with Jesus, perhaps you've been even in church before, you were maybe even raised in church, but you've gotten away from God, my friend. You're here for a reason. God led you here, and it's time to turn around to take a step towards the Lord.
So whether you've never had a relationship with Jesus or whether you've known him and you've turned away, my friend, whether you can see it or not, God himself is reaching out his hand to you, saying, come home.
Come home.
You may say, how do I do that, Pastor? I'm not sure how to make Jesus supreme, my friend. It starts with a prayer. It would be the greatest honor of my life if you would pray this prayer with me and take that step of faith today.
And as a matter of fact, I'm not going to single you out in any way, but all of us are going to pray this prayer together so that you will know you're not alone, but church family. Can we pray this together? Would you just say, jesus, I believe you're the Son of God.
I believe that you came and died, and I believe that you rose from the grave so that I could have life and forgiveness for all of my sins.
Will you please forgive me and I'll give you the rest of my life?
Thank you for loving me with heads bowed and eyes closed with no one else looking around. My friend, if you prayed that prayer today and you meant that prayer, if that was you and you say, pastor, I. I meant that prayer. I prayed that prayer. Can I just see just. Just those of you that prayed that prayer, would you just lift your hand up all across this place and that was me. That was me. Good, good, good, good. I see you up there in the balcony. Good for you. Yes, sir. I see you. Young man.
Yes, young lady. I see you. Good for you. You guys can put your hands down. You might be watching online as well. I want you to know that whether you're here in person or watching online, there's a phone number that's going to appear on the screen behind me. And if you raised your hand, if you say, I accepted Christ today, I believe that prayer that I prayed, then this phone number is just for you. So text the words I prayed to that number. And what's going to happen when you do that?
I'm going to send you the link to some things that will help you understand what just happened inside of your heart and what your next step should be. It's the greatest honor of my life to help people meet Jesus, to know him, and to start walking in the purpose that God has for the rest of their life. It's a beautiful thing, and I would love to help you. So that phone number is for you and for everybody else. Go ahead and look up at me if you would. Then let's stand to our feet together. I'm going to ask our elders and their wives to make their way forward. And as our service ends, these guys will stay right here at the end of this platform to be available to pray for you about anything that you might need prayer for.
If you're watching online, you're like, I need some prayer about a certain thing, type that in the chat. We would love. We would be honored to pray for you. We still believe. Please hear me, church, that God answers prayers. God answers when his people ask him. And so these are the elders of our church. James 5 clearly outlines how we are to go before the church and ask the elders to pray if we're. If we're sick, if we're struggling. So the only thing standing between maybe you and breakthrough is a step of faith.
So these guys will be available to pray for you. And then, of course, in the lobby today, we're going to have fasting and prayer for my Dallas Cowboys. If those of you that want to join me in fervent prayer. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm kidding. But seriously, please help. Please help.
No. Let me pray for you and bless you and send you out. Lord God, I thank you for an incredible day. I thank you for your word. May it be hidden inside of our heart that we. That we wouldn't sin against you. I pray that we would hear the voice of your Holy Spirit, that we would be led by you all week long. Lord, would you bless my friends with an amazing week in Jesus name and all of us said together. Amen. God bless you as you go. Have an awesome thank you so much.
[00:41:05] Speaker A: For listening in today. Our prayer is that you are encouraged and strengthened by the message. If you haven't done so yet, be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave us a review wherever you're listening. If you want to be a part of our online community, connect with us through Facebook or Instagram with the handle hyridgelv. Or you can check out our
[email protected] lastly, if this ministry has impacted your life and you'd like to support its work, visit highridgelv.com give we appreciate your support and we're believing with you today for God's best in your life. Have an incredible week and we will see you next time.
